ALABAMA: Anything but Gentlemanly

In the Deep South last week, self-righteous bigotry made votes for Wallace. Barnstorming through Alabama, Senator Glen Taylor, Henry Wallace's running mate, dropped in on a Birmingham meeting of the Communist-front Southern Negro Youth Congress. It was a small meeting—one hundred Negroes and whites gathered in a seedy little Negro church in the heart of the Negro district. But policemen guarded the doors; others prowled the darkness outside. Police Commissioner Eugene ("Bull") Connor had declared roundly: "There's not enough room in town for Bull and the Commies."

When Taylor arrived, a burly patrolman blocked the main door, over which some one had placed a sign, "Negroes." "This is the colored entrance," he said, "the white entrance is around the side." Taylor ignored him, tried to brush past. Four detectives closed in. They hustled Taylor to a patrol car and shoved him in. At the police station, Senator Taylor was booked for "disorderly conduct" (for violating Alabama's segregation laws) and searched. When he protested, a cop growled: "Keep your mouth shut, buddy." Released on bond, he was ordered to stand trial this week. Said Senator Taylor: "They treated me very rough—anything but gentlemanly. God help the ordinary man!"